February Reading 2012

Welcome everyone. As many of you know I have been lost in the 'puppy zone' -- but I am surfacing today to get the monthly thread up. Apologies and I see there are many new threads. I am thrilled to see you all here!

Aaack! Now it's not a thread I started, so I better post here...

Feb 6 arrived late, which isn't much of an excuse because I did have it all weekend, but I've read only the little stuff and no articles, so much for my goal to be done by the cover date.

I have finished it, as of ten min ago...... but the puppy beckons and it is warm and sunny out.... so later! I don't even know what the date is...... (I kind of have the same idea as you about my deadline.....)

It cannot be February already...

Okay, so. Deep breath.....
February 6
-The piece by Jeremy Denk about recording Ives is superb, NYer at its finest. Engaging, well written, and makes you want to run out and listen to the music in question......
-I enjoyed the next piece about 'workplace fiction' in China. I'm fascinated by the idea of fiction filling this ..... need, I guess you'd call it. Another winner.
-Shouts - shrug
- Ian Parker writes about the suicide at Rutgers. I remember this story last year..... I have mixed feelings about this piece..... we are all too much in each other's business these days....and as the mother of a teen it is also a scary read. Overall the piece convinces me that the 'big' college campus experience is hellish for many kids -- most survive it, but with a price I have no doubt. I hate massive peer concentration anyway - always have. Uh oh, feel a rant coming on, quick, take evasive action.....
-A piece about the decline and reinvention of Archway and Stella D'Oro - sobering. I used to eat a lot of those Archway Hermits....
-The T.C. Boyle story was..... strange. Not sure what else to say.
-Poems were OK nothing blew me away.
-skimmed the rest.....

This was a good issue.

Feb 13 & 20 : thoughts here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/131558#3226166

Favorite stories: "Transfiguration" by Raffi Khatchadourian and "Citizen Conn" by Michael Chabon (yep, the fiction piece)

Now... back to the older issues :)

6: I commented a bit on your thread but... double issue! So only 3 in February? Hallelujah.

That is good news! I seem to be reading a lot of NF so fewer issues will help with that. Mine hasn't come yet!

I look forward to the Chabon -- will read your comments Annie when I get to the issue!

February 6
Jeremy Denk re Charles Ives: I'm musically ignorant, expected to read a few paragraphs and move on, but I got hooked, by the "spectacular insurance salesman" and "curmudgeonly visionary" and the "meandering multiplicity" of the river. And I really enjoy descriptions of process and technique even when I have no particular interest in the result. And there's the philosophical issue of performance versus recording: "The natural flawed flow of things is vanishing, replaced by this emerging construct."
Leslie Chang re Chinese workplace novels: More work, less romance. How to navigate a new world.
Ian Parker re Tyler Clementi suicide: I remember this from the time it occurred, did not know details. Tyler surely had more going on than this episode, which he was actually handling admirably well, and which would've been resolved. Ravi was a jerk, and merely a jerk, up until the advertising of the web cam, which was seriously scuzzy. Boundaries are not clear and social networks are not static, and it's no wonder that kids do not behave appropriately at all times. Teenagers are not fully formed and the first months of college can be a rough adjustment. Sad all around.
Ian Frazier re Stella D'oro and Archway: A depressingly common trajectory for small companies.
Wyatt Mason re Dear Leader by Adam Johnson: A combo of realistic portrayal and "the need to spin a yarn", which tends to irritate me, alas.
Skipped: pop music, poetry, theater, cinema.
Briefly Noted: The Lives of Margaret Fuller by John Matteson is of interest.

Feb 13 & 20:

Ooooooooohhhhhh! M.R. James!! Yum.

>8 sibylline:

The miracles of Kindle -- you actually get it as soon as possible :)

>7 qebo:

Probably - it is what the cover says (the dates)... :)

Maybe it's my mood, but I was less than enthralled by the Feb. 13 and 20 issue, which I tried to read today. I started and abandoned the articles about the attack ad guy, the plagiarist, and the guy with the new face (at the point where the accident happened, too creepy). I did enjoy the article about M.R. James's stories, more probably than I enjoyed most of his stories, some of which I read last year, and to my surprise the Jonathan Franzen article about Edith Wharton. I skipped the Chabon story because I generally don't like him, but maybe I'll try it.

Now, back to the previous week!

I'm just popping in to get this thread back up near the head of the line and back into my head. When I finish this book about procrastination that I've been reading (quite diligently I might add) then I will get to the latest issue (the double). I have two essays to go - so probably I'll get cranking over the weekend.

>12 rebeccanyc:

Yeah - there are a few creepy moments in the "new face guy" article... But then the topic is creepy enough anyway. It should be noted though that I read a lot of Horror...

I set the double issue aside with relief to get caught up with other things, and now I'm realizing that a week has gone by.

I read the article about Tyler Clementi in the February 6 issue with special interest, since I'm a Rutgers alumnus. I thought the author did a nice job in portraying Dharun Ravi, who comes across as a spoiled, rich jerk but not the monster that the New York media portrayed him as, and to a lesser degree Clementi. I couldn't understand why Clementi decided to jump off of the GWB, as he didn't seem to have any suicidal tendencies or ideations. Rutgers is a large university with five separate campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway, so it should have been easy for him to transfer from Busch to another campus dorm, and preserve his anonymity. The university also has a sizable, and visible, LGBT population, which could have provided him with comfort and support had he chosen to use it. I don't want to "blame the victim" by any means, and Ravi deserves to be brought to trial, but the case is more complex and difficult than I had originally thought.

I'll try to finish this issue over the next few days, and read the February 13/20 issue next week.

Nicely put Darryl -- there is a core mystery there -- I can't help but wonder what is in the letter that the police have, that not even Clementi's parents have been allowed to read.

OK, so I've read the cartoons. None of them grabbed me.

I started the Feb 13 & 20 NYer yesterday evening and read the little stuff, then had trouble sleeping, went through several cycles of read one article switch off the light, until all that remained was the face, which I did not want as the last thing on my mind.

I'm about halfway through Feb 13-20 which feels like the right time to stop for a bit....... I haven't yet read "The face" -- this feels like one of those articles that people are going to talk about as in.... 'did you read the, you know, the one about the face?' What I have read
-about Larry McCarthy -- what an unethical person, he truly doesn't seem to care about lying, only winning. I mean, nobody pretends otherwise so I'm not being a sissy liberal to say so.-- On the other hand, this is America, what am I thinking, it's always been this way.
- In fact this piece has an odd connection to the Franzen on Wharton -- The Custom of the Country which Franzen feels is the first truly 'modern' novel - with the indominable Undine Spragg who becomes the uncrushable 'celebrity' -- a figure we recognize.
-The piece in between was about one Quentin Rowan who plagiarized from dozens of books to create a thriller.

So far not half bad. I'm a sucker for anything about Edith Wharton! And interested in plagiarism -- I had a student once who plagiarized a whole essay that was in a book of example essays by students in the little library of the Community College where I was teaching. I mean, we all knew those essays!

February 13 & 20
Jane Mayer re Larry McCarthy: Politics is a scuzzy game. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all genuinely aiming for optimum policy given diverse concerns.
Lizzie Widdicombe re Q. R. Markham and plagiarism: A psychological portrait. "Making a text from other texts 'is not a lazy man's game.'
Jonathan Franzen re Edith Wharton: I read this with interest but without real context, since if I read her novels (The House of Mirth seems vaguely familiar), memory has faded.
Raffi Khatchadourian re face transplant: Wow: personal redemption and supreme skill and heroics all around. Fascinating process of wiring face to person.
Emily Nussbaum re children's TV: I'm out of the loop, but encouraged to see good things happening.
Briefly Noted: American Egyptologist by Jeffrey Abt and Saladin by Anne-Marie Edde are of interest.
Skipped or skimmed bits of music, theater, cinema.

Go Katherine! And it isn't even yet the 20th! And you can't get the next one in the mail today!

I zipped through this issue in about 24 hours. It's a good one. My primary LT task for the day is an issue of Scientific American that I have read in its entirety but not yet documented at all. And I have made no progress whatsoever with God's Philosophers this weekend.

I have 60 pages to go in G.P. and I will be happy to finish.

Does anyone have any interest in doing this for the NY Review of Books too? I am even farther behind on that than I am on the New Yorker, probably because it is less handy to carry around on the subway or when waiting in line for anything.

24: I hope you'll stick around for commentary while the rest of us catch up. I've been reading your comments, and wishing to be in a position to reply.
25: Sorry, no. My even-further-behind magazine is Atlantic.

If it would help you, please make a thread here. I know I'll come around and read whatever you post. I've become a much more self-indulgent reader than I used to be, but I like to know what is going on. I read yr. thread but rarely comment, but your review/summarize extremely well.

>26 qebo:

Which reminds me that I need to post about the March issue of the Atlantic... in line with my "Read the last issue first" policy, I already read it... now need to post about it.

>25 rebeccanyc:

Start a thread, someone will join :) I read it off and on -- mainly because I lack any time for it... Or start your own thread for all your magazines - this is what I ended up doing.

Lucy, thanks for your kind words. I don't think I'll start a personal magazine reading thread because I like talking about the New Yorker with all of you here, but if I ever get back to reading the piled up NY Review of Books I may start a thread for it, that anyone can join in on. And, Annie, I think last issue first is the way to go. It's what I do when the NY Times piles up.

If I could rename this thread it would probably be The New Yorker and All Your Piles Of Unread Magazines Support Group.........

You can rename the group.

Can I? Let me go look. DONE

Well, it's a mouthful, but I'll take it to heart!

Well the line wraps in the Talk list, but it's no worse than the long titles of some 75er threads, and it does nicely describe what's going on here. :-)

Almost finished the double anniversary issue. The face-guy story was amazing. I have no brain for science or medicine but the research in this piece blew me away (is that inappropriate with regard to the face situation?). I really thought the article was exceptional and this writer deserves a prize for it.
Hopefully he'll be recognized next year at the Magazine Awards.
I had a lot of difficulty with the plagarist article. It was well written and sympathetic in some ways but
the guy was an out and out thief and I really don't know why the magazine thought it was worthy of
reporting on. He knew what he was doing..and yes he had ego problems, but none of this made it right. I really didn't feel comfortable reading about a plagarist and I felt like the writer was trying to intellectualize a topic that really didn't deserve the attention.
the Chabon was fun. I found the Franzen kind of dull. I think someone needs to steal his glasses again.

Nice comments, made me chuckle! I'm such a sucker for all things Wharton I have no judgment in that regard, but I think you pinpointed something in the article on the plagiarist.

Part of the story was that a LOT of editors and authors actually read the thing and did not have a clue that there is a problem. So I read the story more as a commentary to the current state of publishing than anything else....

Good point Annie. Erg - I'm here to report I've bogged in the Face article - it's very good but very hard to read. Meanwhile my next NYer tumbled into the PO Box today. Time to crack the ole whip.

Finished the double issue, Feb 13 & 20. Definitely a winner, this issue, I read just about all of it.

-The face. I was moved to tears several times by this piece -- mostly by things the surgeons said they were feeling -- those are tough dudes, for the most part, so their own surprise at strong emotional reaction came through. Can't judge whether or not the piece was well-written -- certainly the writing did not 'get in the way' of an amazing story of dedicated work and fortitude on the part of Dallas.
- the Chabon story was the best in a long time. Even those of you who skip the story usually might like it.
- M.R. James -- horror writer from Victorian era -- I think I read one or two of these in anthologies as a kid.....

The next issue was in my PO Box on Saturday......

February 27
Kalefa Sanneh re Ron Paul: I read this but nothing notable.
Julia Ioffe re Russia: I ought to read this, but I didn't.
Burkhard Bilger re police dogs: Worth the entire issue: breeding, training, bonding.
John Lee Anderson re Syria: I ought to read this, but after a few pages I skimmed.
Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, theater, cinema.

February doldrums.

Yeah, this issue looked a bit lackluster to me too, which is why I haven't gotten to it yet....... but I suppose I MUST or the next one will roll in before I catch my breath.

I'd expect you to find the police dogs engaging, and as a dog person you'll be in better position to assess than I am. Also the story is by Thomas McGuane, who I'd never noticed until you said very positive things about a story last year.

The next one will probably roll in here today, since it did not yesterday.

I liked the police dog story too; still working on the rest of the issue. I was disappointed by the Alice Munro story in the most recent issue, since I usually like her a lot and read it first.

I didn't care for the Ron Paul article, kind of dull..I can see why some people would love the police dog article but it didn't appeal to me..those dogs frightened me! I thought the article on Syria was exceptional. It's unbelievable what these reporters do to get a story, just terrifying stuff. I was very impressed. And I thought the Thomas McGuane story was an absolute gem, just delightful. Now reading the David Denby on silent films which is really interesting.

Completed the Feb 27 issue.

-Read with vague interest about Ron Paul - I have no use for extremism right or left, although I think they have their value in keeping people awake politically.
-skipped shouts
-could not read about Putin and Prokosch
-was utterly absorbed in the police dog piece, as Q figured! A plus.
-tried, but was not able to absorb much about Syria.
-the McGuane story was, like the previous McG story, excellent.
-skimmed about "the Artist" (haven't seen it..... being pointlessly stubborn.....), Fugard (amazing person, thinker, writer), and Edward St. Aubyn who sounds like a seriously down and dirty version of Waugh and Powell...... I might be interested or I might find it just too much. Any St Aubyn fans out there??

March 5 issue so far...the article on Wisconsin is dreadful..a total bore and I have no idea why it was placed in a national magazine, I felt very uninvolved in the narrative. The science
article seemed to be something I wouldn't want to read, but it was really excellent and it involved me in a way that science usually doesn't succeed at. Currently reading the article on the economic summit in Switzerland and so far it's ok. Really looking forward to the Alice Munro story because she's one of my all-time favourite writers.

Here is the link to the new March thread, my apologies for slowness: MARCH

So amazed at how much there is to read in each New Yorker ... and at how quickly each month goes. I too loved the police dog story - although I tend to the cat side most days ;).

Feb. 6. (catching up in September)

Delightful cover - "The Big Game" by Barry Blitt.

COMMENT: TABLE TALK - Steve Coll on U.S. involvement in Iran, going back to 1953. Current international pressure on the ayatollahs has reached an unprecedented level. Iran's nuclear program began secretly in the late 1970s. during the Shah's rule. Centrifuge technology to enrich uranium is relatively easy to hide. Two such facilities are underground. It is unknown how they would be affected by aerial bombardment. There would inevitably be major retaliation. All of Iran's known nuclear-fuel enrichment facilities are monitored by the U.N. A computer virus called Stuxnet infected Iran's centrifuge controls.

Ben McGrath - YOGA WARS: STEAMED - Bikram Yoga is a rigidly prescribed sequence of 26 postures to be carried out at a temperature of 105 degrees. Greg Gumucio, the founder of Yoga to the People, is being sued by his former mentor Birkram Choudbury for copyright infringement and related issues.

Ian Parker - A REPORTER AT LARGE: THE STORY OF A SUICIDE - Describes events leading to the suicide of Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi, resulting in charges being brought against his roommate and his roomate's friend.

Ian Frazier - OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS: OUT OF THE BRONX: Private Equity And The Cookie Factory - The author speaks with displaced employees of companies bought by private-equity firms (in this instance, Stella D'oro in the Bronx and Archway cookie factory in Ashland, Ohio).